Are electronic signatures legal in Japan?

Seals, signatures and the presumption

On paper, Japan's Code of Civil Procedure presumes a private document authentic if it bears the signature or seal of the person or their agent (art. 228(4)). That's why company seals matter. The Act on Electronic Signatures and Certification Business (Act No. 102 of 2000), in force since April 1, 2001, carries the same idea into electronic records.

• What counts as an electronic signature (art. 2(1)): a measure applied to information in an electronic record that shows the person who applied it created the information, and that lets anyone check whether it's been altered.
• The presumption (art. 3): an electronic record is presumed authentic when the person's own electronic signature is on it, limited to signatures that only that person can make by properly managing the codes and devices needed.

A signature that doesn't meet article 3 is still evidence. It just doesn't get the presumption, so the party submitting the record has to prove it's authentic.

Cloud signing services

Many Japanese companies sign through services where the provider applies the signature on the user's instruction. A Q&A first issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on September 4, 2020, and revised by the Digital Agency and the Ministry of Justice on January 9, 2024, says such services can meet article 3 when both steps show enough uniqueness: the user's own authentication to the provider (two-factor login, for example) and the provider's internal signing process. The final call rests with the courts.

What still needs paper or a notary

• Business-use fixed-term land leases must be made by notarial deed (Land and Building Lease Act, art. 23(3)).
• Ordinary fixed-term land leases and fixed-term building leases may now be made as electronic records (arts. 22(2) and 38(2)).
• Notarial deeds themselves have been made electronically by default since October 1, 2025, with attendance by video available on request, except for guarantee deeds under Civil Code art. 465-6 (Notaries Act, arts. 36 and 37).

Accreditation of certification businesses falls to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice (art. 40), with the Digital Agency handling the work. Other statutes can still require a particular form, so check the rule for your document type.

Where SignMaster fits in Japan

SignMaster provides simple electronic signatures with an audit trail. We don't claim its signatures meet the article 3 presumption, so treat them as evidence you may need to prove. That's fine for most commercial paperwork: quotes, purchase orders, service agreements and NDAs. Each completed PDF ends with a certificate of completion recording every signer's email, IP address, consent and timestamps, and a SHA-256 fingerprint shows whether the file was altered after signing.